Fascinating Non Fiction
About our events
From the Bard to the Barrowlands, forensics to football – the best of the year’s non-fiction offers revolutions, revelations, and the intimate human stories behind the headlines.
How many FOI requests does it take to tell an accurate story? Andrew Lownie’s Entitled meticulously charts the rise and fall of the modern House of York, while Oliver Bullough explains how dirty money is buying up democracy.
Fiction writers turn to new forms as the legendary Anne Enright enriches us with her essays from across the decades, novelist Mark Haddon reveals the darkly hilarious story of his own childhood, and Louis de Bernières uses his diaries to reflect on his writing life.
Simon Kuper shares the thrill of being at every World Cup since 1990; Nandini Das presents Tudor England anew via its international connections; and in an age of impunity, when violent actions seemingly go unchecked, human rights barrister Philippe Sands reflects on a decade since the publication of East West Street.
Intimate events collide with public narratives as Darren McGarvey examines how personal stories are exploited for wider consumption and David Turner shares untold journeys of disability and resistance from history. Stephen McGinty recounts the devastating events at Dunblane Primary School and examines their legacy, while Baroness Brenda Hale unpacks how the law can be used to protect all of our rights.
List of Events
Gemma Cairney: The Immortal Sisterhood
Travellers have often looked to the stars for guidance; but, for award-winning broadcaster and author Gemma Cairney, her constellation is a…
Alison Irvine: Barrowland
Playing Glasgow’s iconic Barrowland Ballroom is a ‘Made it!’ moment for bands around the world. Acts including David Bowie, Blondie, Biffy…
Richard Collett & Andrew Hussey: Talking to Strangers
Do we have more in common than that which divides us? In their latest works, Andrew Hussey (Fractured France: Journey Through a Divided…
Ione Gamble & Philippa Snow: Icons Only
In It's Terrible the Things I Have to Do to Be Me, Philippa Snow gives us a radical study of female icons through pairs of famous women.…
Julie Farrell, Fergus Murray & Lucy Rose: Someone Like Me
Society often puts us into boxes, watering down a diversity of experiences into one singular story. Someone Like Me says: no more. This…
Michael Pollan & Anil Seth: Considering Consciousness
In A World Appears and Being You, Michael Pollan and Anil Seth ask one of the biggest questions there is: how does consciousness happen?…
Emily Kasriel & Gabrielle Rifkind: A Manifesto for Radical Listening
How do we connect and really hear each other amid the cacophony of our world? Former BBC journalist, mediator, and executive coach Emily…
Anil Seth: Being You
How does the feeling of ‘being you’ emerge from billions of neurons? Pioneering neuroscientist Anil Seth’s spent decades investigating that…
Oliver Bullough & Caroline Knowles: Dirty Money
Our cities are built and rebuilt on the billions of private investors. Funds are pumped in, shifted around, and squirrelled away –…
Stephen McGinty: One Morning in March
On 13 March 1996, at Dunblane Primary School, 16 pupils and one teacher were murdered, and many more injured, in the deadliest mass…Marina Warner: Sanctuary
What is ‘sanctuary’? Is it a sacred place where travellers and refugees might find safety and solace? Or is it a homeland to be shuttered…
Peter Ross: Journeys in Ancient Britain and Ireland
Ancient places, structures, and monuments can be key sites of wonder and wondering, as Peter Ross finds in Upon A White Horse. Combining…John Curtice: Is Two-Party Politics Over?
Sir John Curtice, Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclyde, has become known as one of our most incisive, animated, and…
David Turner: A History of Resistance
Those who write the history books shape the stories we come to know – but who gets left out? It’s something historian and professor David…
Kapka Kassabova: Borrowed Land
What does it mean to truly fight for your home when faced with the forces of colonialism, industry, and depopulation? In Borrowed Land,…
Brian Dillon: Ambivalence
For many of us, reading is more than a syllabus – it is sustenance. In Ambivalence, boundary-breaking essayist Brian Dillon looks back on…
James Crawford: The Vanishing Earth
In our insatiable pursuit of economic growth, modern civilisation has upended the planet; our relentless extraction of resources has…
Paul French: The Last Emperor of China
The road to modern China began with the 1912 abdication of the final emperor Puyi and the establishment of the People’s Republic, ending…
Lani Watson: Why Ask Questions?
Every once in a while, a book changes how you move through life. Q: The Hidden Power of Questions in a World that Wants Answers is one of…
Angharad Hampshire & Katja Hoyer: What Would You Do?
The Mare – journalist Angharad Hampshire’s Walter Scott Prize-shortlisted debut novel – is a gripping portrait of an ordinary woman’s…
Liam Byrne, Sarah Stein Lubrano & Marius Ostrowski: Can You Change Your Mind?
How did we get so entrenched in our political and ideological positions? Can we change other people’s minds about anything? And what does…
James Bailey: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark
20 years have passed since the death of Scottish literary icon Muriel Spark, and in 2027, Edinburgh will see a new statue installed in her…Jennifer Higgie: Bedlam
A painter of fairies, a deranged murderer, and an inmate of history’s most notorious insane asylum: Victorian artist Richard Dadd is the…